


Borrowed Time

by Neils_Pen_To_Paper



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life, The Borrowers - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Guns, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Suicidal Thoughts, benrey is fucking timy!!!!, borrower au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:34:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28720560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neils_Pen_To_Paper/pseuds/Neils_Pen_To_Paper
Summary: Borrower au but I wrote it while angsty.TW For suicide attempt/mention (not gone through with though dw!)
Relationships: Relationships TBA
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	Borrowed Time

**Author's Note:**

> Yo thanks for reading. Um... everyone lives <3

Benrey had always been a people watcher. Whether it was watching his lovely best friend sew clothes or watch the human from the cracks in the floor and the ceilings, Benrey was always watching with a fond smile. They liked watching the human, something most borrowers couldn’t even fathom. Most borrowers had “fear instincts”, something his friend’s father said Benrey lacked. Fear Instincts was what kept borrowers alive, and out of rat traps; something, Mr. Coolatta said, killed his parents. Benrey doubted that, though, they just saw it as an old borrower’s tale to keep him and Tommy out of the gaze of humans. 

Speaking of humans, the human of the apartment was sitting on his bed. Benrey was watching him, lazily sprawled under the wardrobe the human owned. The human was making an odd  _ click, click, click, click _ noise with a strange contraption in his hands. It looked like Tommy’s grappling hook’s launcher- that was something the yellow-furred borrower made himself. Benrey shook their head. Damnit, now's not the time to be soft for their buddy. The human was shaking, too, Benrey saw. There were fat tears rolling down his face, massive to the tiny borrower. Was he sad..?

The human took a deep sigh and moved the strange thing to the side of his bed. He grabbed a note from off his bedside, a note Benrey had watched him write and rewrite for an hour, at least. Benrey laid their head on their paws. Was he… stalling? Benrey knew that feeling all too well, they hated going out to forage. The human set the note to the side and took a stiff, shaking breath, again. 

“Alright, Gordon... You can do this- It.. It’ll be over quick. Won't even feel it.” The human said, voice cracking and sad. It made Benrey frown, sympathy’s a bitch. The weird contraption was picked back up before the gears in Benrey’s head started working overtime. Fuck. What was the human even  _ doing?! _ Was he… going to hurt himself with that contraption? If the human got hurt, how else were they going to find food!? Benrey’s hackles raised at the thought. The human, as distressing as it was to think, was vital to the survival of the colony! If he was gone, they’d have to move, and in the middle of January? No thanks, fuckass! 

The click of the thing brought Benrey out of their thoughts. Their legs twitched as he rose up, tail flicking. If Mr. Coolatta found out about this, they were better off dead. That was a problem for Future Benrey, though. Present Benrey had a mission. 

Benrey charged the human at full speed, letting a loud shriek of violet sweet voice run from their mouth. It didn’t mean anything, it was just the highest pitch that Benrey knew humans could hear, and high pitched was annoying to them, right? The human was startled by the sudden appearance of Benrey, setting aside the black, boxy thing in his hands. Benrey lept and climbed up the leg of the human, their claws digging into flesh. Benrey clawed their way to the thigh of the human and blasted his face with a calming blue stream of sweet voice. It seemed to work, as the human just looked down at benrey and pawed at his eyes. 

“Yo, human. Don’t uh, don’t touch that.” They said. The human gave a surprised laugh, though it was a little sad.

“W-what? You’re…” The human looked at Benrey closer, massive and bright green eyes boring holes into Benrey. Thank fuck for the lack of a fear responce, though their common sense was screaming at them. “A rat..?”

“Nuh uh, bro. I’m not some stinky little mousey boy. Not 5’8, crawling in the walls, lookin’ for cheese. Well, sometimes for cheese. Not 5’8 though, lol, imagine that.” They rambled, leaving the human to look at them with a puzzled and stressed expression.

“... Was that a fucking meme reference?” The human asked, bewilderment making his lips turn up in a scowl. Massive fucking chompers, there.

“Maybe, maybe not.” They shrugged. “Anyway, are you allowed to be here? Can I see your credentials?” Benrey looked the human in the eye as he almost laughed.

“I- I live here! If anything, I should be asking  _ you _ what  _ you’re _ doing here!” The human punctuated the ‘you’re’ with a gentle poke to their gut. 

“Well, uh, I live here too, so uh, checkmate.” Benrey said, leaning against the finger that was now gently rubbing their tummy. “I need to see your,” they thought, what was something humans used to identify themselves..? “passport.”

“My- my  _ passport?!” _ The human gave a full body laugh, falling back with a hand to his eyes. “Oh, man, you’re cracking me up!” Benrey smiled, taking the opportunity to move to the human’s chest, looking at him closer. His green eyes were almost glowing, a sickly bright green. Benrey sat down politely and curled their tail around their legs. 

“Good. You uh, not sad anymore? Not gonna hurt yourself?” They cast the odd object a glare. The human fell still.

“... How-how did you know..?”

“I’ve been like, watching you man, that’s what I do. ‘M you’re uh… garden angle.” They shrugged. “But you’re not gonna, right?”

“... Well… why shouldn’t I? It’s not like anyone  _ needs _ or  _ wants _ me here…” He took a shaking breath.

“I know at least, like, five people who need you.” Benrey said, monotone. That made the human’s face light up, if only slightly. 

“... Really..? You’re not like- I’m not hallucinating you, am I?” Benrey shook his head.

“No, I’m real. Got full collision detection and everything.” They punctuated this by giving the human a few soft pats on the chest. That seemed to satisfy him. 

“Al- I’ll believe you. Um… are there more of you- or-or like, other little mouse people..?” He asked, sitting up. Benrey let themself fall into the palm of the human’s hand, tail twitching in thought.

“Um… That’s classified information, I need to see your passport before I can tell you.” They said, looking the human in the eye. He looked away after a second. 

“I-I’m being serious! My landlord has glue traps set up, and- well if you’re not mice or some shit, I don’t wanna hurt you.” He seemed really worried, eyebrows taught in thought. 

“Yeah there’s no mice, just uh. Me and the boys.”

“So there are more than just you?”

“Yeah, lol.”

“Alright- thank you, that’s all I needed. Gonna have to get rid of the traps, then.” The human set Benrey back on the bed and grabbed the odd box thing again. 

“Hey don’t touch that!” Benrey huffed, clawing their way back to the human’s thigh.

“I-I’m putting it away! I’m not gonna shoot myself- I-I swear!” The human made the thing click, then set it down again. He gently nudged Benrey off, then got off the bed and onto his knees, searching for something under the bed.

“What’re you doing? Finding your passport?” Benrey cautiously looked down, watching as the human pulled out another box. 

“Nope, I’ve never been overseas. Don’t have a passport, bro.” He said, opening the box. It held things in it, Benrey saw. The human took the odd contraption-thing again, and dismantled it. He set the pieces in their places, then closed the box and latched it shut. “There. No more gun, no more hurtin’.” 

“What’s a gun?” Benrey watched as the human crumpled up the note and tossed it into the trash, missing it by like three feet.

“That thing I just put away. You use it to- to um… kill things.” The human frowned as he ran his fingers over the textured box.

“Oh.” The human stood, grabbing the handle of the box. 

“Yeah… I better return it to Alyx, she’ll be pissed if she knows I took it.” The human offered his hand to Benrey.

“Who’s that?” Benrey stepped onto his hand, climbing up to sit on his shoulder.

“She’s the girl next door, um… I’d like to say we’re friends, but I don’t think she likes me very much. No- nobody likes Gordon.” He said, voice thick with sadness. Benrey let out a small trail of sad-blue sweet voice.

“I like you.” They said. They walked out of Gordon's apartment and into the Corridor. Benrey hadn’t been out in this area for ages, and saw several doors, some with boxes and others with nothing.

“Well- you- I-I barely know you!” Gordon said. 

“Yeah, well, I know you… kinda.” Benrey said, voice growing quiet at the end. “I watch you from the walls.”

“That’s not creepy at all!” Gordon said, sarcasm dripping from his words. Benrey huffed. 

“No other way to say it, bro. Just bein’ honest.” Benrey watched as Gordon set the gun-holding box down before a door, hands going to his pockets. 

“Shit- God, I forgot my keys. I-” A voice cut him off.

“Gordon! There you are.” A woman came from outside, coat covered in snow. “Did you- Oh! You found my gun?” Gordon turned, nervousness trickling off of him. Benrey hid behind Gordon’s neck and hair, watching the lady with caution. 

“H-hey Alyx… Um.. I-I uh- yeah.” Gordon shuffled back, voice small.

“Thanks, man, I thought Dad was shooting racoons again.” Alyx took the box and unlocked her door, giving Gordon a simile. “See you.” She closed the door to which Gordon sighed. 

He headed back to his apartment. 

“That’s Alyx?” Benrey asked. Gordon jumped a little, turning to the small borrower on his shoulder.

“I-I thought you would’ve gone away- Um. Y-yeah that’s Alyx.” He shut the door of his apartment and headed to the couch, sitting. Benrey climbed down to his thigh and laid, leaning back to look up at Gordon’s face.

“I think she likes you.” They said. Gordon sighed and shook his head.

“N-no she doesn’t, i-it’s a courtesy thing. We, um, we don’t like- we’re not buddy-buddy, y’know?”

“But she doesn’t hate your guts, so that’s like, better than nothing.” Gordon seemed to consider that. 

“I-I mean, I suppose..?” He sighed. “... Um, are you hungry? I’m- Gordon gettin’ hungy.” 

“Hell yeah, I could go for some grub.” Benrey smiled. “Gonna make me dinner? Gonna take me on a date?” Gordon gently grabbed Benrey, making his way to the kitchenette of the apartment. 

“I-It’s not a  _ date! _ ” Gordon’s face went a little flushed. “I-It’s- I’m just being nice. Y’know, c-cause you didn’t um… You helped me survive tonight.” He rummaged through the huge metal box that held food, bringing out a few eggs and cheese. He set them down as he made another metal box catch fire, setting a pan over it.

“Aww, Gordon Niceman.” Benrey gave a content purr, wrapping their tail around themself as Gordon cooked the eggs, scrambled, with the cheese.

“I-it’s Dr. Gordon Freeman, to you.” He poked Benrey, gently.

“Doctor? You a science man? Doing a funny little experiment on some cringefail rodents?” Benrey’s tail twitched with humor. 

“Not that kind of doctor. I do- I-I used to just, um, push carts around the lab.” Gordon set the hot pan aside, getting a big plate for himself and a smaller one for Benrey. They found that sweet. Gordon Niceman moments.

“Used? You got um, ex-communicated from the labs? Lol.” Benrey said, instantly going for the plate as soon as it was set down before them.

“N-no, I um… There was a big accident a few months back, I got really hurt. I broke my arm and my eyes got blasted with radiation.” Gordon stood as he ate, Benrey nodding with his words. “They- My eyes used to be brown, actually. Now they’re green.” Benrey chewed their cheesy eggs and nodded.

“That’s cool.” They said after swallowing. “They glow, too. P bright, nice um, glow-in-the-dark peepers y’got.” 

“Oh- um… Thank you..?” Gordon smiled a little. Benrey’s heart almost stopped at seeing his shy, genuine smile. Fuck, he was cute. They needed to disengage before they died of cuteness.

“Yeah they’re like a fucked up cat eye.” Nailed it. Gordon frowned at them, mouth wide.

“Hey!” He said incredulously. “Cat’s eyes are very cool, excuse me!”

“That’s what I meant, y’ can't even use your science brain? Wow, Gordon Not-Scienceman.” They said. That got Gordon to laugh, a tad surprised. 

“Whatever man, I’d like to see you write a scientific paper on teleportation using rocks.” Gordon huffed, chewing on his eggs. Speaking of eggs, Benrey was getting full, and had more than enough eggs to last them for a while.

“Yo, uh, Gordon? Mind if I take these eggs back for the boys? I’m uh,” they smacked their lips in thought, “full.”

“Oh, um, go ahead? You gonna use that bag of yours?” Benrey did have their satchel on them, and nodded.

“Yeah, duh. Bag of Holding, never gonna run out of space.” They started stuffing the bag full of cheesy eggs, Gordon watching as they did so. They weren’t lying about the ‘never running out of space’ thing, it was bigger on the inside.

“You- whoa, how is it holding all of that?!” Gordon leaned down, eyes wide and glowing as Benrey shouldered the bag. 

“My best friend made it, of course it’ll be not- um, it won’t ever be full.” Benrey said. Gordon gave a confused face, but just took away Benrey’s plate instead of commenting. 

“I-Okay, I’ll believe that. You’re gonna, um… Are you gonna go now?” He turned to Benrey, face sad. 

“Yeah, um, gotta get home to the ps5.” Benrey smiled. “If you ever need some o’ Benrey, just knock on the walls twice. I’ll be there quicker than uh, Sonic the Hedgehog on a treadmill.” Gordon laughed, but nodded.

“O-Okay, w-wait!” Gordon suddenly put his hand on the counter, next to Benrey. “I- I don’t think I ever got your name?”

“Oh, um. It’s Benrey. Benrey Stong.” Benrey gave the hand a gentle pat.

“Alright. Um… Thank you, Benrey, for um… w-well everything! Take care.” With that, he gently put Benrey on the floor. He turned out the lights of the apartment and headed back to his room. Benrey wriggled their way into the walls, headed back home.

Their face was all smiles.


End file.
